Category: Accessory
Focuser / Gear / Maintenance / Observatory
Spring time – Pumpkin out, Cassie in
I’ve been working over Astromart again, trying to build up a “big boy” set of eyepieces, you know, for that public outreach I never do 🙂 Anyway, so far I’ve picked up […]
Focuser / Gear / Maintenance / Mount
Another layer of the onion
I spent some time in the fasteners aisle at McLendon’s Hardware on Saturday morning, looking for longer collimation bolts for Trixie. The mirror cell has nice, easy-to-source hardware (1/4-20 countersunk for the […]
Accessory / Focuser / Gear / Maintenance / Observing Reports / Techniques / Technology
FocusMax – relearning the V-curve
Things have changed a lot since the last time that I ran Focusmax. Among other things, I have built up a whole new astro-PC, and I never really understood FM well enough […]
Accessory / Focuser / Gear / Maintenance / Technology
Pumpkin focuser characteristics
ASCOM driver: EasyFocus Min steps: 0 Max steps: 30000 Speed: 250/Full Pumpkin + 300d + FF/FR + no Ha + IDAS LPS = position 23456
New gear on the way
Time to upgrade some stuff. I finally lost patience with my Meade reticle eyepiece. It’s the eyepiece I use the most, but it’s designed for people who manually guide; the reticle is […]
Focuser / Maintenance / Observing Reports
OAG installed
Tonight was cloudy, but the clouds were high and thin, transparent enough to see Orion, The Dogs, Moon, Mars, and that’s about it. So, I spent some time doing maintenance. I swapped […]
ATM / Electronics / Focuser / Gear / General / Maintenance / Observing Reports / Optics / Techniques / Technology
Murphy was an optimist.
Clear Sky Clock said it would be cloudy all night, so of course it stayed 90% clear until about midnight, when it socked in. But I’m getting ahead of myself… I decided […]
Focuser / Maintenance / Optics
At long last, progress
Well, it only took 5 months, but I finally got Veronica to focus using the new RCC and the off-axis guider! It’s for real this time. The problem has been stated and […]
Focuser / Gear / Maintenance
New Equipment – The next setback
Buoyed by my success at getting the new coma corrector to focus using the shortened focuser, I tried it again with the “production” focuser, which is 3/8” taller. I recollimated as far […]
Astro knowledge / Focuser / Gear / Maintenance / Techniques
New equipment works, finally.
In order to get the new coma corrector working with the OAG inline, I had to try a lot of things before I found the right set that shoved the focal plane […]
RECENT UPDATE
Polar Alignment Calculations
Here’s a page that derives Polar Alignment Calculations. (update 5/2020: the original site is gone, so I found the text on Wayback and am inserting it below. This is by the original […]
Gear / Observatory / Telescope
Special Guest Star takes the mount at Hilltop O
The Astro Jedi needed somewhere to store his light sab—- I mean, bucket, and I was only too happy to accommodate him. I have decided that I need to come to a […]
General / Maintenance / Observatory
Dome shutter is motorized again!
I finally decided to bite the bullet and fix the shutter motor. Things went sideways last winter, and I’ve been opening the shutter manually (and tying it shut with rope, so we […]
Trixie 2017 – tube mods
I finally got around to cutting the MTA-UTA tubes to length; the only eyepiece that would come to focus with the focuser spacer in place is the Televue 55mm Plossl. If I […]
MOST COMMENTED
Observatory
Observatory 2.0 – Time has come today!
General / Maintenance
First Light, a deeper look
Mount / Observatory / Telescope
Observatory 2.0 – Result!
Observatory
Observatory 2.0 – The Pier goes in
Gear / General / Maintenance
Martin Farmer Wormblock installation notes
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC2244, The Rosette Nebula
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Another beautiful night.